What's the best pair of bookshelf speakers for under $1000?

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#81
Timely post! I (have been looking at bookshelves for a couple of months). I have been seriously considering the GR Research Encore XL's. Speaker kit plus custom cabs come in around $500. Would need stands additional. I hear good things through grapevine, but would like to hear from owners.
 
#84
Has anyone tried concrete for book shelf speaker cabinet material? The object is to dampen the rearward traveling soundwaves and what material would be better than about 1" of concrete?

A catchy little marketing ditty - KAIROS in CONCRETE
 
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#85
On July 31, 2013, in Post #3 ScottG recommended the Kairos....

Today on May 14, 2020, in Post #85 many here would still recommend the Kairos, and open design Kalasan which uses the same Satori 6.5" midbass + 1.1" dimple dome tweeter
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Joachim Gerhard designed the free Kalasan kit for SB-Acoustics.
The $52 SB29RDC-4 tweeter measures almost identical to the $132 Satori TW29R-4 tweeter.
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SB Acoustics Satori Monitor - diyAudio

Joachim Gerhard final Satori Kalasan crossover 5.0 circuits from the Kalasan diyAudio thread. # 700
--SB Acoustics Satori Monitor
measurements post# 699
crossover circuits post# 700
photos post# 801 762 746

There are two common cabinets with slanted baffles for time and phase alignment: box with 8-degree slanted baffle; pyramid shape with slanted baffle.

The Kalasan slanted baffle box dimensions are 30cm wide, 40cm high and 24cm bottom-deep (11.8"W 15.8"H 9.5"D ~0.7cuft internal volume). There is a 25 - 32mm thick baffle. 8-degree baffle tilt...... (USA == Round to 12"W 16"H 9.5"D with 1.5" thick baffle)
 
#86
Concrete Cabinets?

What are the thoughts about making Kairos cabinets from concrete? Back in the days when I played with ribbon drivers, concrete worked great for deadening those rearward waves and cabinet boom in general.

Seeing as how concrete is inflexable, I would think it would be an excellent choice to which wood veneir could be applied to "pretty" the cabs up - or not! 🙂
 
#89
Rodango said:
What are the thoughts about making Kairos cabinets from concrete? Back in the days when I played with ribbon drivers, concrete worked great for deadening those rearward waves and cabinet boom in general.

Seeing as how concrete is inflexable, I would think it would be an excellent choice to which wood veneir could be applied to "pretty" the cabs up - or not! 🙂
Click to expand...

As a material it won’t resonate but that doesn’t mean it will dampen the back wave. In fact, it’s hardness will reflect the back wave quite badly. Have you ever been inside a bare concrete wall and floor room? It echoes like crazy.

A material like foam core on the other hand, will naturally dampen the back wave but be flexible and thin so it re radiates some of it.

Adding melamine foam on the inside wall of the concrete will dampen the back wave, as well as maybe some stuffing like a small ball of fiberglass in the hollow space.

Cabinet shape is important too. A rectangular box will support resonant modes. A odd number of walls 3 or 5 will help prevent the parallel wall resonant modes.

A curved rear chamber or a deep pyramidal chamber are excellent rear wave absorbers.
 
#90
Many years ago I met an old speaker designer. He said for prototyping some enclosures he would put them on their SIDE, then put sand on top of the speaker- play music (volume?) , watch where the sand would move (vibrate) and mark these spots. These spots would be where they would put in braces .

Something different

RoomTune SpeakerClamp, Perhaps? - Luminator - Speaker Asylum

Or if the enclosure is small just put a long bolt (side to side) with something- hockey pucks & clamp away.
 
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#92
ChrisABC said:
Many years ago I met an old speaker designer. He said for prototyping some enclosures he would put them on their SIDE, then put sand on top of the speaker- play music (volume?) , watch where the sand would move (vibrate) and mark these spots. These spots would be where they would put in braces .

Something different

RoomTune SpeakerClamp, Perhaps? - Luminator - Speaker Asylum

Or if the enclosure is small just put a long bolt (side to side) with something- hockey pucks & clamp away.
Click to expand...


Yeah the very sand they putt in public ashtray are very good at this task.
though it's harder on the sides of the speaker, cause you have to flip it and the stand is not made for this if the speaker is not cubic !
 
#93
I started this topic over 13 years ago because I had just traded away a set of Beautiful Sounding Proac 1SC Clones which I thought sounded Almost as good as my Bohlender Graebener RD50 ribbons. Unfortunately they also slipped through my fingers.

So I got a pair of ESS AMT 1Cs. They were "Good" but not as good as either speaker I mentioned above.

I started this thread, as the title says, to find the best bookshelf speaker for under $1000 and after a long wait, I am now ready to buy.

The Kairos by Meniscus has come highly recommended in this thread. Is it still recommended or has it been eclipsed by another system in the years I have waited?
I realize that I will be hard pressed to come up with a Proac or BGCORP solution for under $1000 but what would you recommend? The Kairos... or...??

Thanks!
 
#99
As stated above, JBL is a sure thing. Here's a $1,000 active JBL 705P.

The difference between the lower priced JBLs and that 705P is playback volume level. If you want loud playback buy the expensive one. If not, buy the less expensive one. You can also look at other brands if you don't want the JBL waveguide.

Active/powered studio monitors are going to be the best bookshelf sized speakers you can buy today. If your goal is "the best" then the days of buying a separate amplifier to power a passive speaker are gone.
 
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